Diversity of fruits and seeds, which determines the rhythms of new generation individual development

Traditionally, the different quality of fruits and seeds is perceived from the point of view of their morphology, external differences in shape and size. However, fruits and seeds with the same appearance may differ by the degree of the embryo and endosperm development. There are many reasons that determine their future quality: the position of the flower in the inflorescence, the position of the inflorescence on the plant, the presence of pollinators, the supply of the mother plant with nutrients. This paper provides an overview of the status of knowledge of the problem of heterocarp and / or heterospermia. On the examples of fruits and seeds of a number of species from different families, collected both in nature and from cultivated plants, it is shown that identical by shape, fruits and seeds differ in their quality. The high quality of the reproductive diasporas affects their germination ability, the speed of passage by new plant individuals not only of the initial age-related states of the virginal period, but also the rate of their entry into the generative state. It has been shown that seeds with the highest biometric indicators of size and weight, as a rule, have high germination, and new individuals develop more actively from them, the initial age-related states pass in a short time. Small seeds have a low germination capacity, and individuals of a new generation, growing from such seeds, go through the main phases of their development in a longer time period.